Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers' Report for August 27th to September 3rd
The full moon for the month of September is on Sunday the 2nd. This full moon is called the Fruit Moon.
On Monday the 27th the moon will be about 5 degrees from Mars in the southern sky at night fall.
Late in the evening of Friday the 31st, or early in the morning of the 1st of September, you will have a good opportunity to see the 7th planet of our solar system. Uranus is will directly above the moon and almost due south. To find the planet with binoculars, look for the moon and then look about 3 degrees directly above it for a small blue-green dot. To estimate how much three degrees is in the sky, it may be helpful to know that the moon's diameter is right about half of a degree, so you will need to look 6 moon-widths above the moon to find Uranus.
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday the 2nd of September, Venus will make a nice binocular pairing with the Beehive open star cluster. Venus will pass about 1 and a half degrees from the center of the cluster. And if you are already up, take a look at Jupiter and Saturn up and to the right of Venus.
Public viewing nights on UT telescopes are on hiatus and will resume after Labor Day. Viewing at Robert Lee Moore Hall will again be on Wednesday nights and public viewing at the Painter Hall telescopes will again be on Saturdays.
Have a pleasant and safe Labor Day weekend!
